Brienne of Karth
Brienne Barrett of Karth was born, as her suffix suggests, in Karthwasten, in the Reach. She was never a lady of fancy things, even when she was just a girl. She wanted to explore and discover, and show off her ferocity. As soon as she could talk, she was asking questions, and her father, Timun Barrett, had always known she would ask one particular question some day. When that day came, Brienne's father had to explain to his daughter why her mother, Melanwyn Barrett, looked different from all the other women in Karthwasten. The answer was obvious to outsiders, however, Brienne was innocent and knew no prejudices. Her mother was a High Elf, and her father, along with everyone else in Karthwasten, was a Nord. As Brienne became an adult, her high elf blood began to show as she grew taller than most of the men in town. However, she did not inherit her mother's magical abilities. Brienne's father never allowed her to travel to the ancient dwarven city of Markarth. He knew the road was too dangerous for a child. Melanwyn had always protested for Brienne's freedom to choose, and so, she convinced Timun to let her make the journey to the great city, on one condition. She was to learn to fight properly. Years of training had passed and Brienne still had yet to lay eyes on the stone keep of Markarth. Her progress in sword-fighting was remarkable. But that wouldn't prepare her for what came next. Word had come that the vicious Forsworn had recently fortified several redoubts including Hag Rock and Red Eagle. All of the Reach became a more dangerous place, especially the roads. Most of the men in Karthwasten were recruited, by order of the Jarl of Markarth, to take care of the Forsworn pillagers settled throughout the hold. None of them were seen again, including Brienne's father. As the Forsworn tightened their grip on the Reach, more and more people fled in all directions, from Haafingar to the Rift. In time, the savage Forsworn came for Karthwasten. Brienne was prepared to join the few men remaining to protect her home, but her mother packed only the essentials and took her to the Imperial City in Cyrodiil. After just a year in her new home, Melanwyn fell ill and passed away, leaving Brienne to live alone in a still-foreign land. Brienne came to despise the Empire. All she could to was watch as old men grew fat and rich while everyone else in the city carried the Emperor's burdens. She knew she didn't belong here. At the age of twenty-one, and with nothing left of her home, she named herself "Brienne of Karth", to forever remind herself of who she was and where she came from. Still in Cyrodiil, she came under the apprenticeship of a Redguard woman, named Kavi'ra. She taught Brienne everything she knew about handling a blade. A master of all weapons, she instructed her in fighting with both one-handed and two-handed swords. This made Brienne of Karth a worthy opponent indeed, and soon, she would dominate countless foes in the Imperial City Arena. Now that, at age thirty-one, Brienne could more than hold her own in combat, she swore an oath, to her mother, her father, and all the nine divines, that she would return to Skyrim and bring fierce justice to the Forsworn and all those that would seek to disrupt the peace of her home-province. But the land she grew up in, was no longer how she remembered it.